


The Sun Will Set Tomorrow

by lxna



Series: TSWST [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Bittersweet, Burns, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, No Smut, POV Third Person, Plot, Romance, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 18:30:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16497965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lxna/pseuds/lxna
Summary: A pirate seeking thrills and drunken debauchery; a bounty hunter in pursuit of a criminal. Friends in youth, reunited as adults. Yet, their meeting is no more than a junction, and both know that they must continue walking.





	The Sun Will Set Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Didn't do my research properly so some of the dates are kind of messed up (meaning the story is slightly AU). Sorry.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/165730022@N02/44958762654/in/dateposted-public/)  


# 

Prologue

Palm trees standing resolute, their fanned leaves swaying in tandem with the wind. Pallid rays of sunlight, insipid, filtering through the greenery; permeating each crevice. Breathing, laboured by mirth and playfulness, lingering in the brisk air.  
A clatter.  
‘Really, Shanks? _Again?_ You never let me win!’

‘Sorry, Anna. Looks like _I’m_ just more skilled than you.’  
A pause.  
‘Well… not for long. I’ll beat you someday, just wait!’  
Her reply was met with merely a smirk: silent and sardonic, as if to say “good luck with that.”  
Defeated, Anna stuck out her tongue, and turned to pick up the wooden sword that now lay by her feet.  
‘So… rematch?’  
Anna simply stared, before gathering all the petulant ire a six-year-old was capable of, and snapping, ‘No.’  
The spectacle was even punctuated by her abruptly sitting down, spraying a billow of fine sand in the process.  
Still, Shanks’s indomitable smile never faltered.  
‘Don’t be that way, Anna.’ He said, ‘If you spend all your time sulking, you’ll never defeat me, and how can you expect to be a pirate if you can’t even beat one person?’

‘Not just a pirate, Shanks - the _greatest_ pirate. And, and, it doesn’t even matter if I can’t beat you at sword fighting! I’ll win in other ways. You’ll see.’

‘A promise, then. We’ll both be great pirates.’  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
‘Aren’t you getting dizzy?’ Anna questioned, staring up at Shanks. His eyes were distant, as if focused upon an empty plane.  
_I wonder what he’s thinking about._  
Something nice, Anna hoped.  
‘Not really,’ he said, interrupting her reverie. Anna only hummed, her gaze meandering  
aimlessly towards the skies above, surveying each spinning cloud and bird.  
A jolt.  
‘Shanks! Why did you stop?’  
‘Just taking a break. Pushing a roundabout for hours on end is tiring, you know.’ He paused, before adding, with a grin, ‘Plus, you’re _much_ heavier than you look.’  
Anna lunged to swat him; but alas, Shanks was faster, and in one fluid he step dodged the offending hand.  
‘Hmph!’  
Suitably cowed, she lay back against the roundabout floor, absentmindedly tracing the dimpled surface, each camber and indent warm beneath her fingertips. The sky; the grass; and her fellow children all coalesced, an amalgam of varied hues, pooled in the verdant green of Anna’s eyes. Differentiating, then blurring with the start and slowing of the roundabout. She shifted, gazing thoughtfully towards an empty tract of the playground.  
‘Looking for someone in particular, Anna?’  
Anna looked at Shanks, blankly observing the impish quirk of his lip, before asking him to elaborate.  
‘Oh, you know exactly what I mean. Come on, Anna, who is it? I can keep a secret, you know that. ’  
_Do I know that, Shanks? Besides, what is he... oh. A crush. He thinks I have a crush._  
‘Earth to Anna… are you in there?’  
She snapped to attention.  
‘So, when are you gonna confess to him? You’re not scared he’ll say no, are you?’  
‘I do _not_ have a crush, Shanks, on _anyone._ Even if I did, why would I tell you?’  
Shanks fell silent and, with the grandeur and melodrama of a man in the spotlight, placed his hand to his forehead, before leaning back and sighing.  
‘Of course, of course it’s not a crush. How could I have been so blind?’  
‘Blind? What are talking about?’ She said, in haste.  
‘That you...’  
A pause.  
‘You have... a...  
‘A what, Shanks?’  
Silence.  
‘A _boyfriend!_ ’  
Silence.  
Slowly, purposefully, eyes turned to scrutinise the source of the outburst. An intense red mantled Anna’s cheeks, as unintelligible sputtering poured forth from her mouth.  
‘Th-that’s not... I don’t...’  
Her protests were in vain, drowned out by Shanks’ resounding laughter. He wouldn’t let her forget this, that was certain.  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Waves, encroaching upon the shoreline, spewing beads of white foam on the sand. The moon’s scarce light, pooling upon the surface of the water.  
A light breeze scathed Anna’s exposed shoulders. She shuddered, prompting Shanks to draw an arm around her.  
‘I’m sorry, An-’  
‘If you were that sorry, you wouldn’t be leaving.’  
Anna immediately regretted her words, upon seeing Shanks’s pained expression. And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to take them back.  
‘You have to understand, Anna. This is my chance - my chance to carve out a future, to see beyond the West Blue.’  
He drew a breath.  
‘If you’re so against me going, why don’t you come along too?’  
Anna only stared, something akin to disbelief clouding her eyes.  
‘Really, Shanks? What would my parents think? Their own daughter, up and leaving in the dead of the night, to masquerade as a - a pirate. A felon! Don’t you think they deserve more than that?’  
She sighed.  
‘If things were different, of course I would go with you. Becoming a pirate, being free to live as I dictate: it’s my dream, too. But I can’t leave, not now. I’m not r-’  
A bottle rolled towards her feet, its cold exterior grazing her exposed toes. _Rum._  
‘Drink some. It’ll ease your worries.’  
With the trepidation of a man on path to the gallows, Anna grasped the offending alcohol, Shanks’s howls of laughter reverberating in her ears.  
‘Fucking hell, Anna! It’s not poisoned - drink some already!’  
_Ah. I see what this is - trying to change the subject, are we?_  
Now that Anna truly looked, she could see his cheeks were tinged a drunken red.  
_You know what? I’ll do it! If I want to spend my last moments with my boyfriend, drunk, then I’ll spend them drunk._  
A new sense of courage instilled in her being, Anna seized the bottle by its neck; removed the cap; and, uttering a swift apology to her parents, tipped its contents down her throat.  
Only a slight twitch of the lips, and a fleeting glint in his eye, betrayed the maelstrom of surprised awe that quickly besieged Shanks. _That bottle was half-full._  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
'Do you really have to go?'  
'You know I do.'  
_His breath._  
_Clean._  
Anna suppressed a sob.  
She had hoped, however nonsensical it might have been, that there would still be alcohol  
on his breath; that they were still on the beach, basking in yesterday's moon, embracing  
with the ardour of young lovers.  
'Hey, Anna?'  
'Yes?'  
'I love you.'  
And into the shadows he slipped.


End file.
